King Yong was in a good mood today. When he went to the morning court, he took the initiative to say hello to everyone he saw, letting everyone know his joy.
Even when they saw King Yan, King Yong greeted him for the first time and walked side by side with him enthusiastically.
"Your Majesty Yan, the spring weather is about to start nicely. Do you want to hold a polo match? I am willing to give you a jade Ruyi as a lottery ticket."
King Yan had recently been expelled by King Yong and had several close ministers. He was annoyed and had no time to pay attention to King Yong, so he retorted:
"I heard that the housekeeper in your house was killed by the officials?"
King Yong didn't care and said, "That little slave, taking advantage of my name, committed crimes and committed crimes. He deserves to die."
King Yan snorted coldly: "You have a big heart. After all, that servant has been serving you for a long time. He has worked hard without any merit. He is careful to chill the hearts of the people below."
King Yong said sternly: "I have always made clear rewards and punishments. I will reward you if you have merit, but I will never tolerate mistakes."
King Yan looked deeply at King Yong, snorted coldly, and walked forward quickly.
The two princes came to the court and stood at the front. Soon all the officials arrived. The official Zhao Zhen sat on the dragon chair with the help of the eunuch.
King Yong found that the official's complexion was not very good today. After careful inspection, he found that there were not many black strands in the official's beard.
"When did the official family get so old?" King Yong thought to himself.
The official is only in his early fifties, and his hair and beard are almost completely white.
While King Yong was thinking, the court meeting officially began.
Today's meeting is for the Spring Examination, which mainly determines the candidates for the examiner.
The imperial examination selects candidates for the country, and the choice of examiner is extremely important. In previous years, it was recommended by the Ministry of Rites and selected by the officials.
This year King Yan was very active and asked his officials from the Ministry of Rites to recommend several places, all of which were from his own people.
Naturally, King Yong did not want King Yan to win over the new scholar and raised objections. The two princes immediately started quarreling with each other in the court.
"That's enough, stop arguing." The official finally couldn't sit still and said.
King Yong and King Yan shut up at the same time, and all the courtiers even knelt down and shouted to the emperor to calm down.
"Every time there is a quarrel during the scientific examination, my head hurts from hearing it." The official rubbed his temples and said to King Yong:
"Since you are opposed to the candidate recommended by the Ministry of Rites, is there a good candidate?"
King Yong said sternly: "I recommend the eight kings to return to Beijing to supervise the examination."
In one sentence, the entire court fell into silence, and King Yan looked at King Yong in surprise.
The official was a little surprised, and a glimmer of light flashed in his old eyes.
"It's true that the Eighth Prince hasn't returned to Beijing for a long time." The official murmured to himself.
King Yong struck while the iron was hot and said: "The Eighth Prince has been away from home all year round and rarely comes back to the capital. If he is allowed to invigilate the exam this spring, he will be qualified given the dignity of the prince, not to mention that the brothers can get together."
It was Wang Gang's proposal to King Yong to let the Eighth Prince Zhao Zongquan return to the capital. Since he wanted to strike first to gain strength, it was natural to do it all at once.
Zhao Zongquan holds military power, so there is always a hidden danger. Why not take the initiative to trick him into entering Beijing and solve it together when the time comes?
There is another advantage to having him invigilate the exam.
Zhao Zongquan returned to Beijing as an invigilator, so naturally he could not bring troops into Beijing.
King Yong thought about it for a long time and felt that Wang Gang's proposal was a good one, killing two birds with one stone.
"Is there anyone who objects to King Yong's proposal?" The official asked the courtiers for their opinions appropriately.
How could the ministers object? The matter was quickly approved, and the officials officially issued an order to summon the Eighth Prince Zhao Zongquan back to Beijing to preside over the scientific examination.
King Yan couldn't find the examiner, he felt as if he had eaten a fly, and his face looked very ugly.
As a result, King Yong wrote again, saying that Ma Guowei, the magistrate of Jiangning Prefecture, would present the sacred beast Qilin.
This was so incredible that the official's half-closed eyes widened.
"Qilin, there really is a Qilin in this world." Guan Jia asked excitedly.
"As a court official, Ma Guowei would never dare to deceive His Majesty." King Yong said: "Ma Guowei accidentally bought an exotic beast from an overseas businessman. It looked like a unicorn, so he wrote to the court overnight."
The Minister of Rites also stood up and said to the officials: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites has indeed received Lord Ma's letter. The old minister has sent someone to verify it. There will be news as soon as tomorrow."
The official couldn't sit still anymore and stood up slowly. The eunuchs on both sides quickly helped him steady.
"Qilin, will Qilin really appear in our Song Dynasty? If it is true, it will be a great blessing."
Don't blame Zhao Zhen for being so excited as an emperor. Kirin is really not an ordinary thing, and the meaning behind it is too great.
"Congratulations to Your Majesty, the Qilin suddenly appeared in our court. This is a great auspicious omen, and it is also proof of Your Majesty's profound blessings and divine power!"
The courtiers began to flatter him, and the officials also felt a little complacent.
"Quickly, verify the authenticity of the Kirin as soon as possible, and then send it back as soon as possible within 800 miles." The official said to the Minister of Rites.
King Yong was so proud that his steps became lighter when he walked out of the palace.
The news about Qilin quickly spread throughout the capital, and the report was urgently submitted to the official desk the next day.
The officials sent by the Ministry of Rites to Jiangnan for inspection not only confirmed that the strange beasts were real, but also asked professional painters to draw the appearance of the strange beasts and presented them to the officials for viewing.
When the officials saw the portrait of the strange animal, they were a little embarrassed and were not sure whether it was a unicorn, so they passed it to the courtiers to see.
The ministers had never seen a giraffe before, but the result was the same as the officials, no one could tell whether it was a unicorn or not.
King Yong played again.
"Your Majesty, no matter whether what Ma Guowei is presenting is a unicorn or not, such a strange beast is rare in the world, so it is undoubtedly auspicious."
The official was very happy after hearing this and couldn't help but nodded and said: "Okay, okay, the auspiciousness coming from the sky is also a good omen from heaven. Let Ma Guowei send the strange beast to the capital."
The courtiers quickly proposed that transporting exotic animals was of great importance and that a large army should be sent to escort the animals, with the cooperation of all officials along the way.
When the officials heard that they made sense, they then asked the Minister of War to recommend a personal choice.
The Minister of War directly recommended Zhou Bing, deputy commander of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division.
Zhou Bing did not belong to any party and was originally a lonely minister. The officials were relieved to send him, so they agreed to the proposal of the Minister of War.
King Yong stood aside from the beginning to the end without saying a word. King Yan was vaguely aware of something strange, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong for the moment.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Soon Zhou Bing led a large group of people from the capital to Jiangnan to meet the auspicious beasts.
Before Zhou Bing set out, King Yong secretly met with him and produced the testimony of Zhou Bing's steward.
King Yong still remembers the look of horror on Zhou Bing's face the moment he saw the butler's confession.
Zhou Bing was finally taken under the command of King Yong and was willing to cooperate with King Yong to smuggle weapons into Beijing.
King Yong was so happy that he met Wang Gang again to express his gratitude.
"My dear nephew, everything is going as you planned. The Spring Examination is the day we send out troops." King Yong said excitedly, holding Wang Gang's hand.
Wang Gang said: "Your Majesty, although the plan is going well, we must not be careless. No matter how careful we are in killing the nine tribes, we cannot be too careful."
King Yong nodded and said, "You are right."
Wang Gang gave some more instructions, and then asked King Yong to find a way to bribe some middle-level officers of the Forbidden Army.
The Song Dynasty was different from previous dynasties in that it valued the Forbidden Army and despised the border troops, so that the Forbidden Army guarding the capital was extremely powerful.
Previously, King Yan bribed the commander of the imperial army because he wanted to get this army in his hands, otherwise the rebellion would be lonely.
The problem before King Yong now is the same. He has too few troops. Once he besieges the palace, he cannot take it down in one fell swoop. If the imperial army returns to the rescue in time, King Yong will die.
"Marquis Ningyuan is in charge of the imperial army. You have a very good relationship with him. Can you win over him?" King Yong asked Wang Gang.
"Gu Yankai is a very old man, and he only cares for the officials. Otherwise, the officials would not be able to trust him and hand over the imperial army to him." Wang Gang frowned and said:
"However, Gu Yankai has only been in charge of the Forbidden Army for a short period of time. He is unable to convince the public and does not have strong control over the Forbidden Army. As long as we bribe some middle-level officers of the Forbidden Army and let the Forbidden Army be in chaos for a while to buy time, it will not hinder our plan."
"That's all it can do."
King Yong was a little disappointed, but he also knew that those who could control the imperial army were all close friends of the officials. The previous Gao Dan was already considered an oddity, and he could not expect that every commander of the imperial army would be an oddity.
"My dear nephew, I have a daughter who is about the same age as you. When the big event is decided, how about you become my son-in-law." King Yong took Wang Gang's hand and said sincerely.
Wang Gang looked stunned. As far as he knew, Prince Yong had many sons, but he only had one daughter, Princess Jiacheng, who later fell in love with Qi Heng.
Princess Jiacheng inherited the domineering temper of King Yong. She fell in love with Qi Heng at a polo match, and then resorted to all possible means to get Qi Heng, which led to an upheaval in King Yan's palace and the death of her family.
Now that he heard that King Yong wanted to marry his only daughter to him, Wang Gang couldn't help but have a strange look on his face.
"Why, I'm asking you to be my son-in-law, why am I wronging you?" King Yong couldn't help but feel a little angry when he saw that Wang Gang didn't agree immediately.
"Princess's golden branches and jade leaves, how can this boy be worthy of me?" Wang Gang said modestly.
King Yong laughed and said: "With your talent, you will be granted the title of Marquis and Prime Minister in the near future. It will not be an injustice if my daughter marries you. We will be a family from now on."
